


Never Encounter

by Vinnocent



Series: Teen Titans: Morph! [6]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, DCU, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Ableist Language, Book 3: The Encounter, Episode: s01e06 Nevermore, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-22
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2018-01-20 10:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1508063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robin and Starfire go to investigate an animal attack on a car dealership while Phyzzon feeds in his pool and the rest of their team seems to be taking a breather.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> More DCU incorporation: The term "meta" for empowered humans is canonical to the general DC Universes, but was never mentioned in the Teen Titans cartoon.

Robin knocked on Starfire's door. When she came to answer it, she did not look happy. She looked exhausted and depressed. "Robin?" she asked, surprised.

"Hey," he said. "I haven't seen much of you lately. You missed the blow up at breakfast."

"I do not wish for more of the blowing up," Starfire mumbled.

Robin frowned. "Cyborg still hasn't apologized?"

"Why should he?" she asked, turning away. "I don't belong here. My best friend is your enemy. I--"

"Whoa, hey," he said following her into her room. "Don't say-- What is that?"

Starfire sat next to a large tub of silvery liquid, which was glowing on one side. "A portable kandrona generator and pool," she said. "This is why no one is allowed in my room. Though, usually, it is disguised as a decorative table."

Robin blushed. "Oh, do you want me to--?"

"You already know about him," Starfire said, propping her elbows on the edge of the tub and peering in.

"Right," said Robin, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Well, sort of."

"You could close the door, though."

"Right." Robin shut the door and, carefully, made his way over to the tank as though he thought a shark might jump out at him. "You said 'he'?" he asked at last.

Starfire nodded. "His name is Phyzzon 355. We met in the Gordanian holding cells. He could no longer stay with his previous host. If the host dies, so will an attached Yeerk."

Robin thought about that for a moment. "How did he get there?"

She shrugged and dipped a finger into the water, stirring slightly. "He doesn't like to talk about it. Something about the military?"

Robin frowned. "How well do you know him?"

Starfire smiled kindly. "We share a brain."

A small slug-like creature darted to the surface, swam around her finger a couple times, then disappeared below again, causing her to giggle. "I can see your point," Robin said. "I came to ask if you want to go on a mission."

She glanced up at him. "Just me?"

"Raven's held up in her room. Beast Boy supposedly went to go apologize, and Cyborg went after him, but I haven't see either of them," said Robin. "It's not a big mission. There's animals assaulting a car dealership. I want to see if our 'Andalites' or maybe some other meta is behind it."

"Sure!" she said, starting to stand. But Robin put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You look… well, tired."

She smiled brightly. "I am fine. He is just away longer than usual, and I am not accustomed to it."

Robin's eyes widened. "Uh, Star, do you mean--"

"I am not Mr. Chapman!" she assured him loudly. "I am not a controller; I am… I am a sharer! I have control most of the time! But Phyzzon, he can…" She twirled her finger in her hair nervously. "He will summon joyous memories to keep my flight steady. He will shift my hormones the exact amount I need to sleep perfectly. He will manipulate my neurons to help me focus when I need it. Little things like that." She sighed. "I have become quickly accustomed to having a perfect life."

"Star, you don't have to have someone provide those things," Robin reminded her gently. "Flaws are… it's okay to not…"

She gasped. "That is not why! I took him because he would have died alone! I keep him because we are friends! I would have you in my head if we wanted and it were possible!"

Robin's lips quirked into what was almost a smile. "So why's he spending more time in there? Is he sick?"

"No. Well… No," she said. "When…" She sighed. "I am not the only one who became upset the other night. He thinks I should have more time without him."

"Well, that's nice," said Robin.

Starfire rubbed her arm uncertainly. "I suppose."

Robin smiled. "Come on. Let's go find us some zoo animals."

Starfire grinned and floated into standing position. "Robin, why are the animals angry with the car dealership?" she asked, following him out.

"Apparently they were using an animal mascot," he admitted. "It seems that red-tailed hawk and an African elephant thought it was their duty to free it."

"Oh," said Starfire. She closed the door behind them as they left. "Then, also, what is a car dealership?"

\-- --

"She was just my prized possession, you know?" Dealin Dan was saying, continuing to follow Starfire as she nervously walked backward through his lot.

"Yes, I am aware," she said, "for you have told me many times now."

"I just don't know what I'm going to do without her!" he said. "How am I supposed to bring people in?"

"Good car prices?" she suggested, looking around for Robin. "Good cars?" Robin, unfortunately, was busy measuring dents in the asphalt.

Dealin Dan hesitated momentarily. "I don't get it. Is that some kind of alien joke?"

"I… I really must go," Starfire giggled nervously. "It was lovely talking to you, but…"

"Then come by again!" he said loudly, pulling out a business card and presenting it to her in one swift movement.

Starfire grimaced. "I, uh…"

"I bet I could set you up with a really sweet deal. Why, if Starflower of the Teen Titans was seen--"

"Who?" Starfire asked, confused.

Robin appeared next to her and took the card. "You know, Dan," he said, glancing at the card briefly before disposing of it, "you're kind of creepy." He turned to Starfire. "Ready to go, Star?"

"YES PLEASE!" She followed Robin through the lot, explaining what little Dan had told her. "The elephant made pancakes from the converting cars over there."

"While it was doing that, the hawk on the video was turning the lock on the cage," said Robin. "Which doesn't seem like something wild hawks do."

"So the elephant was a distraction!" cried Starfire. "Elephants and hawks must have deep friendships in order to--"

"Not really, Star." Robin pointed to the woods behind the dealership. "The the elephant ran there as soon as the bird was free."

"With Mister Dealing Dan's hawk, Price Cut Polly," Starfire confirmed.

Robin frowned. "Uh, no, with the hawk that freed her. According to the video."

"Oh," said Starfire. "Then I think we should look there."

Robin scratched his head. "For a guy who considers his bird his prized possession, you'd think he'd be able to tell them apart," he mumbled.

They followed the elephant tracks into the forest. The tracks became smaller and smaller and the damage to the trees and underbrush became less and less until, finally, the tracks disappeared. "Definitely a morpher," said Robin. "Starfire, fly up and see if you can spot any human tracks in the muddier areas."

Starfire nodded and floated above him into the tree branches. "Yes, I think I see something," she called down. "I think the elephant went to the convenience store."

"Just the elephant?"

"Yes, I do not believe the bird became human at this point."

That was strange. Robin filed it away to go over later. "Great!" he called up to her. "Can anyone see you?"

After a pause, she replied, "No, I do not think so."

"Good. Destroy the tracks."

"But Robin!"

"We can't afford for anyone else to do what we're doing," he explained. "Melt the mud and break some branches over the other way. We want to be the only ones following them."

\-- --

"You mean like hippies?" said the teenager at the store counter.

"I don't think so," said Robin. "We're looking for someone you wouldn't expect to be barefoot."

"Well, there was a girl in a black and pink outfit who cried about a bully stealing her purse and shoes," the kid said. "I felt bad, so I bought her a pair of flipflops over there."

Robin nodded, blank-faced. "What did she look like?"

"Fourteen? Maybe thirteen?" the kid guessed. "Tall and blonde. The kind of girl they put in catalogues, y'know?"

Robin frowned. "I'm not sure that's who we're looking for. Ever seen her before?"

"I dunno, she had one of those faces, y'know? Maybe she's in this neighborhood, but I don't remember her, so she's definitely not a regular."

Robin nodded. "Yeah, I don't think so. We're definitely looking for someone more villainous."

The teenager shrugged. "Sorry. I don't think your guy came in here."

"That's alright! Thanks!" Robin left the convenience store with Starfire trailing behind.

"What do we do now?" she asked. "Our clues have run out!"

"No, they haven't," he said. He pulled on his helmet and straddled his motorcycle. "Let's head to the mall."

"The mall?" Starfire repeated, surprised. "But I thought we were investigating."

"We are. But where do you think a blonde girl in a black and pink outfit who looks like she stepped out of a magazine even after traipsing through the woods barefoot spends most of her time?" he asked.

"I thought you said we wanted someone more villainous," said Starfire.

Robin smiled empathetically. "Star, I said that because I don't want people to know we're looking for her."

Starfire's shoulders sagged. "I am afraid I have become confused."

"Let's just go to the mall. Even if I don't find her there, maybe we can still have fun."

Starfire brightened. "I would like that very much!"

\-- --

Robin followed Starfire around the mall, nodding absently to her partially Tamaranean exclamations, while using a handheld device to hack the mall's servers. He scanned through video after video of mall patrons entering through the main doors. He glanced up briefly and reminded Starfire that she needed to check price tags.

When she turned around, something caught her eye. "Hey, Robin?"

"Yeah?"

"The boy at the counter said that she was familiar but that he had not seen her before? That she could be in a catalogue?"

Robin frowned. "Something like that. Why?"

She pointed behind him. "What about a poster?"

Robin turned and, through the huge display windows, he saw a large poster of very young girl posing proudly in fashionable dress. He immediately changed the focus of his breach, targeting the marketing branch instead of security files. There, he found out about the latest ad campaign, in which models of all ages had been chosen from the patronage and compensated with gift cards. They still had the file of addresses to where those cards had been delivered.

He downloaded Rachel Berenson's information, then removed it from the system.

\-- --

"Are you INSANE?!" a boy was screaming. Robin carefully crept across the roof as Starfire flew above, high enough to go unnoticed. A quick change of costume and an activated hologram meant no one could attach their earlier investigation to their appearance in this neighborhood. Though, really, Robin was mentally punching himself for not using the Nightwing costumer for the earlier portion, so that now their Yeerk-fighters were indicating exactly where the Andalite Bandits might be found.

"We aren't supposed to be rescuing animals," the boy continued. "We're supposed to be rescuing the entire human race from being enslaved by the Yeerks."

There was a pause, like he was waiting for someone to say something.

"You're right," the same boy replied to no one. "But since all of you guys think you have to save the world, and since you're all my friends, more or less, I figure someone has to keep you from being total idiots."

"That would probably be a good idea," said Nightwing, peaking over the edge of the roof into the girl's bedroom. "AAGH!" he barely dodged an angry hawk's attempt to claw him in the face as it rocketed out of the window. "Why are you still a bird?!" he demanded.

"Run!" someone shouted.

"No, wait!" Nightwing shouted, hopping onto the window sill as four teens ran out the bedroom door.

"TSEEEEEEER!" the bird called as dived down again, aiming right for Nightwing's face. He dodged, rolling inside, then dove for the door, but Rachel had slammed it shut and barred it with something. Nightwing threw a Wing-Ding at the bird's left wing, slicing through primary feathers.

The hawk floundered and fell. Nightwing grabbed it by the talons and dodged back out the window again, where he and Superstar cut the kids off at the back door, where one boy was growing orange and black fur, another was growing muscle, and Rachel was already three times her normal size.

"Really?" he demanded angrily, tossing the bird over to the unmorphed black girl. "After I prove how stupid you've been and how easily you could be tracked, you want to fight in public?"

The kids glanced at each other. They paused their morphing processes.

<Supergirl is a Controller,> said one. <We heard others talking about it.>

"You heard _us_ talking about it," said Superstar. "We know you were in our Tower."

<What?>

<Guys, _this_ Supergirl has Starfire's hairstyle and-- > The elephant-ish Rachel brought her hands in front of her chest, hesitated, then put them down again. <Dress size,> she amended.

Nightwing groaned. "We've come to plead for you to please work with us instead of against us. To please come to the Tower and hear us out. Right now they seem to think that you're 'Andalite bandits,' but if we figured it out this soon? How long could it take _them_ if you don't change your act?"

"Friends, we must not fight each other," said Superstar spreading her hands. "This will only benefit our common enemy."

<Then why did you clip my wings?> the bird demanded angrily from the black girl's shoulder. <Do you know how long it will take me to grow those back?>

"Grow?" said Nightwing. "But you can just--"

"Ro-- Nightwing," said Superstar, putting a hand on his shoulder. "The time limit?" She frowned at the children, who were slowly, unsurely, demorphing. "I think we may have come too late for some of the helping."

"What could jou rilly do 'or us anyway?" demanded Rachel, arms crossed, tusks still sticking out of her mouth.

Nightwing glanced down. "Morph-capable shoes would be a start, not to mention years of experience keeping bad guys out of my personal life."

"I'm in," said the Latino boy, raising his still-fuzzy hand. The white boy rubbed his nose, Rachel glared, and the black girl smiled hopefully.

The hawk squawked.

He was probably going to be mad for a while.


	2. Chapter 2

When Robin and Starfire returned to the Tower, they found Cyborg playing video games while Raven and Beast Boy napped next to him on the couch.

"Where have you been?" asked Robin.

Cyborg shrugged. "Just getting to know each other," he said, and Starfire felt a pang of jealousy that her friends had not wished to get to know her. Whatever Robin might claim about her place among the Titans, it was true that Cyborg had thought it important that Raven get an apology for whatever happened that morning but not that he apologize for what he'd said the other night.

She quickly deflated. Maybe he wasn't the one that needed to apologize. She had given him that impression, after all. Were hurtful lies so much better than a hurtful truth?

"Well, you're about to get to know more people," said Robin, interrupting her thoughts. "The Animorphs are coming, so I need you to shut down that cat." He went over and shoved gently at Raven and Beast Boy. "And I need you two to wake up."

"I'm not asleep," Beast Boy mumbled, clearly still at least halfway asleep. In his drowsiness, he turned onto Raven's shoulder. Starfire gasped, certain that this would cause another fight, but the awoken Raven merely pushed him back the other direction.

"'Animorphs'?" she asked Robin, elbowing Beast Boy sharply when he still hadn't awoken. Meanwhile, Cyborg got up to find the cat, which apparently involved wandering around chanting "Here, kitty, kitty!"

"It is what they call themselves," said Starfire. "The morph-capable humans."

"Oh, and, uh, please be nice," said Robin, rubbing his head nervously. "I… might have already offended them."

Raven elbowed Beast Boy a third time, and he started to rouse. "How did you manage that?" she asked.

"That red-tailed hawk?" said Robin. "I might have, um, clipped him. A little."

Beast Boy blinked up at him, confused. "Why would that matter?" he glanced at Starfire. "You said morphing heals them, right?"

Starfire blushed. " _If_ they can morph, it will. But the hawk is a hawk."

"They trained a hawk?" asked Raven.

"No, the hawk _was_ a boy," said Robin. "Now, he's a hawk. He got stuck."

Beast Boy and Raven both blanched. "I suppose you were right, Starfire," Raven said. "Elfangor made a poor choice, before we got there."

Starfire bit back harsh words and glanced at the window. "My friends?" she said. "I believe our guests have arrived."

Four seagulls were perched on the windowsill, behaving pretty normally for seagulls. If you looked closer, however, you could see that all four were exactly the same.

<How did you find us?> one demanded.

"You are all the same bird," said Starfire.

"Found the cat!" Cyborg called triumphantly, returning with a small robotic orb cradled in one hand.

<I really hate that thing,> said another voice, which sounded like it might be Rachel's. The others had refused to identify themselves beyond "Animorphs." Robin was sure he could find their names out, but he wanted to give them the opportunity to warm up instead.

"WELL THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T BREAK INTO OTHER PEOPLE'S HOMES!" Cyborg demanded.

<You were suspicious,> said another Animorph. <We were hiding from the Yeerks like Elfangor told us. They come down and attack him, and then _you_ come down, too. What were we supposed to think? >

<You were trying to go in the middle school entrance to the Yeerk pool as we were coming out, too,> said another. <We thought you were trying to defend them.>

"We went to the middle school because that is where Blackfire said she had been bringing Elangor," Starfire objected.

<You have Elfangor?>

Starfire lifted a hand to her mouth, looking away. Robin glanced back at the other Titans. "You didn't see?" he asked the Animorphs.

<We ran when you arrived. We thought you might be better at looking than Hork-Bajir.>

"Hork-Bajir Controllers," corrected Beast Boy.

<They're all controllers.>

"That doesn't change what Hork-Bajir are!" he objected, but Robin motioned for him to calm down.

"Let's try to keep this as calm as possible. We don't need to tear each other's throats out on the first meeting," Robin said.

<How about the second one?> Rachel suggested.

<Where is Elfangor now?> an Animorph demanded accusingly.

That was when Starfire started sobbing openly. The stunned seagulls stopped pretending to be birds, all staring at her. Robin put a hand on her shoulder. "Star, if you want to go back to your room, we can handle this," he offered.

She shook her head. "No," she whimpered, wiping away tears with a silver sleeve. "I should be the one to speak of my sister." She took a moment to compose herself, then turned to the Animorphs and said, "I tried to rescue Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, but he was not happy here and he did not trust me. My sister, Blackfire of Tamaran, arrived here in an attempt to evade capture and prosecution by the Centauri whom she had stolen items from, which we did not know. She offered to take Elfangor home to the Andalites, but that was a lie. She tried to take him to the Yeerks at the middle school for a reason I do not know. When he found out what she-- what she was doing, then he-- he--" She started crying again, turning against Robin's shoulder.

Robin sighed heavily. "Blackfire caused Elfangor's death," he said, carefully. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. He didn't think thirteen year olds just now thrown into heroing would want to hear that their own idolized hero, their reason for fighting, had killed himself. They might even disbelieve it.

<I'm sorry,> said one.

Starfire shook her head. "No, please do not! It is not your fault I cry!"

<I meant that I'm sorry about your sister.>

Starfire just looked confused. Raven stood from the couch and approached the birds. "There is a problem often found with young new heroes," she said. "You are brought in by a terrible problem and given a new power to help solve it. You think it will make you invincible, immortal. You think you can fight anything now. If what Robin has told us about your fifth member is true, then you have already taken a harsh lesson on the subject."

The birds said nothing. Not to the Titans anyway.

"You guys were brought into this very suddenly," said Cyborg, putting the cat's orb down. "The first you ever heard about it was from a dying alien who was about to get eaten. You're in over your heads, and you know it."

<We are _not_ giving up this fight, > Rachel snarled.

<Hey, maybe you want to listen to them?>

<You want to trust _strangers_ to take care of our families? Our homes? Our--? >

"Hey!" Beast Boy objected, standing up. "No one said anything about you giving up! But we are more experienced! We can _help_ you."

"Fight how you want to fight," said Robin. "But understand that, because of your snooping, every risk you take on risks us, too. I proved how dangerous you've been when I tracked you down in one afternoon. What we're offering is this: You can come to the Tower whenever you need, so long as you're open about it and not sneaking around in small morphs. We deserve a sense of privacy in our own home. Just ask, and we'll offer you any resources we have. Training and advice, too, if you're willing to accept it. In exchange, we want open communication. We would like to back you up. Both teams need to know what the other is learning about the Yeerk invasion. We need to work _together_ or the Yeerks will tear through both teams."

"What do you think?" said Cyborg.

There was quiet among the birds for a while before, finally, three of them flew off. <All five of us are going to discuss this,> said the one remainder. <We'll let you know.>

They watched the bird's fly away. Robin rubbed Starfire's shoulders. "You want to go back to your room?" he asked, and she nodded quietly. "Come on, I'll walk you." He glanced at Cyborg. "Turn the cat back on."

"But you told them--"

"They're welcome here as long as they're _not_ spying on us as rodents and lizards," said Robin. "Trust has to be earned."

\-- --

At Starfire's door, Robin looked around to make sure no one else was coming up to their room, then guided her inside, where the pool still glowed softly, as though it had been patiently waiting for her. He closed the door behind him. "Star… You understand that I had to do that, right?"

"Do what?" she asked, going to sit by the pool again. "We all wanted to speak to them."

"I know, but…" Robin rubbed his arm uneasily. "Starfire, an open invitation is going to put you at a lot more risk. Their first introductions to Yeerks were not kind ones.

Starfire did not sit, but stood over the pool, gazing in. "That is our gelfnar," she said. Robin wanted to argue, but he wasn't sure what a gelfnar was. "You should go now," she said, pulling her hair to one side. "I think watching infestation would make you uncomfortable."

Robin frowned. "It-- He really crawls in your ear?"

Starfire laughed. "Yes, he does."

Robin fidgeted. "You don't need someone to… I don't know. Hold your hair?"

She smiled kindly. "You do not wish to," she said. "It is okay you do not wish to. You may leave."

Robin nodded and left, closing her door behind him. He sighed and leaned against the wall. If it was really okay for him to be so uncomfortable with the whole thing, then why did he feel so terrible?


End file.
